About the Schuylkill River Heritage Area

The Schuylkill River National & State Heritage Area uses conservation, education, recreation, historic and cultural preservation and tourism as tools for community revitalization and economic development.

The Schuylkill River Heritage Area celebrates the Schuylkill River watershed as one of America's most significant cultural, historical and industrial regions. The boundaries of the Heritage Area cover the Schuylkill River watershed in Schuylkill, Berks, Chester, Montgomery, and Philadelphia Counties. This region is nationally significant for the role that its people, places, and events played in the American, Industrial, and Environmental Revolutions. The Heritage Area is home to over 3.2 million people across five counties. Approximately 1.5 million people draw their drinking water directly from the River.

A National Heritage Area is a place designated by the United States Congress where natural, cultural, historic and recreational resources combine to form a cohesive, nationally distinctive landscape. The Schuylkill River received this designation from Congress in 2000. The Schuylkill River watershed was designated a Pennsylvania Heritage Area by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources in 1995. National Heritage Areas work to revitalize and restore the region through natural and cultural resource preservation, education, recreation, community revitalization, and heritage tourism. The legislation authorizing the Schuylkill River National Heritage Area is available from the Library of Congress. You can also learn more about other National Heritage Areas.

Heritage Area Board & Staff

The Schuylkill River Heritage Area is managed by the non-profit Schuylkill River Greenway Association. Founded in 1974 as an organization focused on the preservation of the riverfront in Berks and Schuylkill Counties, the organization has grown in its mission and geographic scope over the years. The Greenway Association is governed by a Board of Directors representing all five counties within the Heritage Area. Today, use of the name Schuylkill River Greenway Association is typically reserved for legal and financial purposes, and members of the Board and staff refer to the organization as the Schuylkill River Heritage Area. The Heritage Area has a small but dedicated staff who work to administer the programs and projects identified our Management Plan. Members of the staff include:

About our Building

The Heritage Area offices are located at 140 College Drive in the Borough of Pottstown (Click here for directions). The building is adjacent to the 30-acre municipally owned Riverfront Park in Pottstown. It was built in 1911 as a switching station for the Philadelphia Electric Company (PECO). Abandoned for much of the 1990s the building was purchased by the Borough in 1997 and converted too ffices in 2000 with the assistance of the State, County, and local governments, and the Montgomery County Lands Trust. The Heritage Area relocated to the site from Wyomissing in 2002. In 2009 the building was purchased by Montgomery County Community College. The college has partnered with the Schuylkill River Heritage Area to create a new Schuylkill Riverfront Academic and Heritage Center, which will include college classrooms in an undeveloped section of the building. The River of Revolutions Interpretive Center, located in the Heritage Area offices, serves as a visitor center for the Schuylkill River region and tells the history of the river through three revolutions: the American, Industrial and Environmental. Learn more.